Door structure



Apr l 1964 G. T UPHUES ETAL 59 DOOR STRUCTURE 3 Sheets-Sheet 1 Filed Feb. 15, 1961 April 21, 1964 a. T. UPHUES ETAL 3,129,469

DOOR STRUCTURE 3 Sheets-Sheet 2 Filed Feb. 15, 1961 April 21, 1964 e. T. UPHUES ETAL 3,129,469

DOOR STRUCTURE Filed Feb. 15, 1961 3 Sheets-Sheet 3 United States Patent 3,129,469 DUGR STRUCTURE Gerard T. Uphues, Chicago, and Thomas C. Soddy, Downers Grove, 1111., assignors, by mesne assignments, to American Seal-Rap Corporation of Delaware, New

York, N.Y., a corporation of Delaware Filed Feb. 15, 1951, Ser. No. 99,332 13 Claims. (Cl. 20-23) The invention relates to doors and associated wall structure of the type in which the door moves transversely of its general plane and of the wall into and out of the door opening and lengthwise of said plane and the wall to positions abreast of the opening and spaced from the opening. The invention is particularly applicable to railway freight house cars but is not limited to such field of use. The invention resides, primarily, in novel mechanism mounted on the door, and also its combination with cooperating structure on the wall.

Among the objects of the invention are to facilitate moving the door into and out of closed position, to lock the door in closed position, to assure proper sequence of operation of door-locking and door-moving mechanism, and to simplify, lighten and render less expensive first cost and maintenance of structure of the general type involved.

In the accompanying drawings illustrating selected embodiments of the invention:

FIGURE 1 is a partial side elevation of a railway box car equipped with a flush door utilizing the invention and also with a sliding door of the usual type arranged endto-end with the flush door to close an opening of greater width than presently in the ordinary box car.

FIGURES 2 and 3 are vertical transverse sections on the corresponding section lines of FIGURES 1 and 5.

FIGURE 4 is a detail vertical transverse section on line 44 of FIGURE 1.

FIGURE 5 is a horizontal section on line 55 of FIGURE 1.

FIGURE 6 is a detail section on line 6-6 of FIG- URE 2.

FIGURES 7, 8, 9 and are generally similar to FIG URE 5, being horizontal sections, but largely diagrammatic, illustrating different positions of the door and its operating and locking mechanism as the door moves into and out of the wall opening.

FIGURE 11 is a detail horizonal section on line 11-1 1 of FIGURE 1.

FIGURE 12 corresponds generally to the lower portion of FIGURE 1 but illustrates another form of the invention.

FIGURES 13 and 14 are detail vertical transverse sections on the corresponding section lines of FIGURE 12.

In the form of the invention shown in FIGURES 1-11 the car side wall is shown at 1, the car side sill at 2, an angle reinforcement and floor support at 3, the floor at 4, and a threshold plate 5 extends along the door opening and has a donwwardly offset marginal portion to accommodate the lateral motion of the flush door.

Slidable on the exterior of the wall is a main door 7 mounted on a track 8 by roller bearing carriages (not shown). The upper edge of the door is housed in a retainer 9 and the door is held in closed position by the vertically shiftable take-up latch 10 engaging an adjustable catch ltla on track 8. Stops 11 limit the opening movement of the door. A rear edging 12 (FIGURE 5) engages a stop 13 on a Wall rear door post 14 to limit the movement of the door to the left during the closing movement of the main door. All of the above-mentioned parts are well known in car construction.

The flush auxiliary door 16 is supported upon a track 3,129,469 Patented Apr. 21, 1964 18 positioned substantially below the level of track 8 and secured to the side sill by brackets 19 (FIGURE 2). The front end of the flush door, adjacent the main door, is mounted on a two-wheel carriage 21. The rear or left hand end of the door is mounted on a similar carriage 22.

Individual crank arms 24 and 25 have depending trunnions 26, 27 respectively at one end of each, rotatable in carriages 21, 22 respectively, and the crank arms have door-supporting journal shafts 23, 29 respectively at their opposite ends rotatable in brackets 30, 31 respectively on the door. Eaoh crank arm is fixed to its shaft. The upper ends of shafts 28, 29 are rotatable in door brackets 33, '34 respectively. When door 16 is fully closed, shaft 29 is received in slotted-keepers 35 (FIGURE 5) fixed on the Wall, and holds the rear end of the door against outward movement. This holding is supplemented by the projection of an outwardly projecting lip 32 (FIGURE 11) on the door rear edging 37 into a recess R in wall rear door post 43. The edges of the recess are preferably reinforced by an angle 43a. Lip 32 and recess R extend vertically sufiiciently to adequately hold the door against thrust of cargo pressing outwardly and thereby cooperate with shaft 29 and keepers 3-5.

An upright locking shaft St is rotatable in brackets 51 on the door and is provided with a locking lever '53- and has offset lugs 52 at its upper and lower ends adapted to slidably engage and disengage cam-like surfaces onthe slots in keepers 55 (FIGURE 5) on the wall. The forward portion of the door is held in flush position in the door opening (FIGURES 1, 5) by the engagement of lugs 5-2 with the inwardly facing cam surfaces 55a of the keeper slots. This holding is supplemented by a latch bolt 57 (FIGURE 1) slidable manually on the door bracket 58 into and out of a keeper 59 on the wall.

At the upper ends of shafts 28, 29 are crank arms 36, 38 respectively corresponding to crank arms 24, 25, and similarly fixed to the shafts. The swinging ends of the arms carry trunnions 39 with rollers 4% (FIGURE 6) received behind a retainer 41 (FIGURE 2) carried by an extension 42 on the car wall upper side plate. An elongated thrust and pull pitman-like member 46 (FIGURES 1, 6) connects trunions 39. A door operating lever 44 on shaft 29 enables a workman to rotate that shaft and its crank arms 25, 38. Shaft 28 has no individual operating lever but is rotated simultaneously with shaft 29 through crank arm 38, pitman 46 and crank arm 36.

The auxiliary door is held against movement to the right by the engagement of its forward edging 62 (FIG- URE 5) with the opposing forward edging 64 of the main door.

When both doors are fully closed (FIGURE 1) the handle ends of shaft levers 44, 53 rest on a bracket 66 and are held down by a pawl 68 pivoted at 69 to door 16 and rotatable manually as indicated in broken lines to release the handles. A locking bar 71, pivoted at 72 to pawl 68, extends to the right through brackets 74 and 75 on the door and its other end abuts web 64a (FIG- URE 5) of the front edging on main door 7. Accordingly auxiliary door 16 cannot be moved until after main door 7 has been moved to the right far enough to release bar 71, whereupon pawl 68 may be swung in the direction of arrow A (FIGURE 1) to release handles 44 and 53. This handle locking mechanism is similar to that disclosed in Patent 2,931,079, issued April 5, 1960.

To open the auxiliary door, the seal for locking lever 15 is broken and the lock released and the main door moved at least a short distance to the right. This frees bar 71 and pawl 68 is turned to release the handles of levers 44, 53, looking shaft 50 is rotated by raising its lever 53 and swinging it to the right. The first of movement rotates shaft 50 and lugs 52 to the position =3 shown in FIGURE 7, thus moving the right hand end of the door outwardly of the door opening and freeing upper and lower gaskets '77, 73 (FIGURE 3). Further movement of the lever and shaft, thrusts lugs 52 against the keeper cam surfaces 55b facing outwardly and to the right, thus shifting the entire door to the right (FIG- URE 8) to space the rear edge of the door from post 43 as indicated at S, which moves mounting shaft 29 out of the slots in keepers 35 and moves lip 32 from behind angle 43a and also abuts the front carriage 21 against a stop 80 on the sill 2. Lever 53 is then dropped and lever 44 raised and swung to the left and thereby rotates shaft 29 and crank arms 25, 38 on trunnions 27, 39 to shift door 16 outwardly and to the left (FIGURES 9, 10) with the crank arms projecting at 90 from the wall. The abutment of carriage 21 with a stop 80 on the car wall insures such shifting of the door because the other carriage 22 (connected to carriage 21 through shafts 28, 29, arms 36, 38 and pitman 4-6) cannot move to the right. From this position the door may be moved on its carriages 21, 22 and track 18 to the left to full open position (not shown) where its rear edge will engage one or more stops 82 on the wall. In such movement the workman ordinarily will use grab irons 60, 61 according to whether he is on the ground or on a platform.

In closing the door it is moved on its carriages 21, 22 by grab irons 60, 61 along track 18 to the right until the right hand carriage 21 strikes stop 80 and the upper right hand roller 49 strikes a stop 83 on the wall. Left hand operating lever 44 and shaft 29 are then rotated to the right and the handle placed in bracket 66. Due to some clearance at the attachment of pitman 46 with the crank arms, the right hand edge of the door is moved in less than the left hand edge and offset lugs 52 on the locking shaft 50 move into the open ends of keepers 55 (FIGURE 9). Locking lever 53 is then rotated from right to left to completely close and lock the door into the wall opening. Due to the cam surfaces of keepers 55, the rotation of the offset lugs on the ends of lock shaft 50 first moves the door to the left so that rear edging lip 32 enters recess 41 in the wall post as the ends of shaft 29 engage keepers 35. This is accompanied by compression of a vertical gasket 85 (FIGURE and locking the left end of the door in the door opening. During this rotation of shaft 50 the right hand end of the door moves to its fully closed position. The handle of lever 53 is placed in bracket 66 and pawl 68 is rotated into handle-holding position.

There is no transverse force applied to crank arms 24, 25, 36, 38 or carriages 21, 22 or rollers 40. Initial door opening movement of shaft 50 as described above moves lip 32 out of recess 41 simultaneously with the movement of shaft 29 out of keepers 35. The right hand end of bracket 59 on the wall near the lower front corner of the closed door 16 and a corresponding stop 86 on the wall near the upper front corner of the door are engageable by cooperating projections 87, 88 on the door forming part of or positioned adjacent to brackets 30, 33, to limit movement of the auxiliary door to the right independently of the contact of the cranks 24, 36 with stops 80, 83 and prevent the cranks skewing under longitudinal impacts when the door is in closed position as shown in FIGURE 1. Keepers 35, 55, 59, shaft 29, cam 52 and bolt 57 respectively secure the door against shifting in all directions by oscillation, load thrust or other forces.

In the form of the invention shown in FIGURES 12-14, the general arrangement of wall, door opening, doors and tracks corresponds to that described above. Instead of individual relatively movable short carriages 21, 22 at opposite ends of the door, a single longitudinal carriage 101 (FIGURE 12) extends substantially throughout the length of the door and rollers 102 are journaled in carriage 101 near each end of the door and travel on the track 1113 corresponding to track 18. Carriage 101 mounts the depending trunnions 104, 105 on the doorsupporting cranks 107, 108, respectively. Crank 108 and its door-supporting shaft 110 are substantially the same as the left hand crank and shafts 25 and 29 previously described. Crank 107 corresponds to the right hand crank 24 previously described but its door-supporting shaft 112 terminates with the bracket 114 on the door and does not extend to the top of the door as does the right hand shaft 28 in FIGURE 1. This is not required because of the use of the single elongated carriage 101 which serves as a pitman between the mounting shafts. There is no connecting bar at the top of the door as shown at 46 in FIGURE 1. Rotation of mounting shaft 110 on its door brackets (not shown) assures rotation of mounting shaft 112 on its door bracket 114. Aside from the elongated carriage 101 and the elimination of the upward extension of mounting shaft 112, the structure of FIGURES 12-14 and the operation of the door in opening and closing movements is substantially as previously described. A locking shaft 116, journaled in door brackets 118, and its offset lug 120 engages keeper 122 on the wall and functions as door shaft 50 previously described.

In both forms of the invention, devices are provided for adjusting the door vertically relative to the wall opening and the track. These devices are indicated at 85 in FIGURE 1 and at in FIGURE 12, and are detailed and described in application Serial No. 51,207 filed August 22, 1960, now Patent 3,059,289 issued October 23, 1962. Each device includes a screw inserted upwardly through the lower wall of the respective carriages 21, 22 (FIG. 1), or a boss in the channel carriage 101, engag ing the lower end of the depending trunnion on the adjacent crank arms 24, 25, 107, 103, respectively.

The door shown in FIGURE 1 is associated with a main outside hung door 7, but it is to be understood that the door and door mounting described in detail above is applicable to a single door construction irrespective of its combination with a main door as may be required to obtain a desirable extra wide opening. Although the elongated carriage is well adapted for the single locking shaft arrangement with the keepers 35 engaging the left hand mounting shafts 110, it may also be used in a door which has a locking shaft near each end of the door engaging individual keepers as shown in United States Patent 2,931,079 issued April 5, 1960.

The details of both door mountings described herein may be varied substantially otherwise without departing from the spirit of the invention and the exclusive use of those modifications coming within the scope of the claims is contemplated.

What is claimed is:

1. In combination with a wall having a door opening, a track fixed on the wall adjacent the opening and extending forwardly and rearwardly thereof, a door fitting in said opening flush with the wall, carriage structure movable along said track, horizontal crank arms near the front and rear ends of the door, respectively, each pivoted at one end on said structure and having an upright journal at its other end supporting the door and pivoted thereto, an operating lever for rotating the journal near the rear end of the door, the door being movable transversely of the wall into and out of the opening to a position flush with the wall to a position spaced therefrom, by swinging crank arms on said structure, and movable lengthwise of the Wall by travel of said structure along the track, a keeper fixed on the wall near the rear end of the opening and having a slot with an open end facing generally forwardly of the door opening, the doorsupporting journal near the rear end of the door being movable into the keeper as the rear end of the door is moved inwardly and rearwardly from an extreme ad vanced position to thereby directly hold the door against movement transversely of the wall, a keeper fixed on the wall near the front end of the opening, an upright locking shaft rotatable on the door near the front end thereof and provided with an operating lever and having an offset lug engageable by said second-mentioned keeper, as the shaft is rotated by said lever, to selectively shift the door forwardly from a position engaging the first mentioned keeper and rearwardly into said position as desired.

2. A structure according to claim 1 in which each upright mounting journal extends substantially the full height of the door and is provided with crank arms at both ends, there being a pitman extending lengthwise of the door and pivoted at its ends to the swinging ends of crankshafts at corresponding ends of the upright mounting journals and causing simultaneous rotation of both journals.

3. In combination, a Wall with a door opening, a door movable into said opening, a track mounted on said wall alongside said opening, spaced carriages movable on said track, upright mounting journals rotatable on said door near opposite ends thereof and having fixed crank arms freely pivoted on said carriages, to swing thereon and thereby move adjacent ends of the door toward and away from said wall, a lever on one of the mounting journals for rotating the latter and its crank arm on its carriage pivot, a keeper fixed on the wall and receiving said mounting journal as the door is moved lengthwise of the opening and into the same, an upright locking shaft journaled on the door near the end of the latter remote from said lever-operated journal, an operating lever for said locking shaft, an offset locking lug on said locking shaft, and a keeper fixed on the wall and having a cam surface engageable by said lug, as said locking shaft is rotated in one direction while the door is in said opening, to hold the adjacent end of the door against movement outwardly of said opening.

4. A combination according to claim 3 in which the latter-mentioned keeper also has a second cam surface engageable by said lug, as said locking shaft is rotated in the opposite direction, to move the adjacent end of the door outwardly of the door opening.

5. A combination according to claim 3 in which the latter-mentioned keeper also has a second cam surface engageable by said lug, as said locking shaft is rotated in the opposite direction, to move the adjacent end of the door outwardly of the door opening and along the wall past said keeper and also move the first-mentioned mounting journal out of engagement with the first-mentioned keeper.

6. In combination with a railway car wall having a door opening and a door movable into and out of position in said opening flush with the wall, upright door mounting journals rotatable on the door near opposite ends of the latter, crank arms fixed on said journals, a track mounted on and extending lengthwise of said wall, individual carriages pivotally supporting the swinging ends of said crank arms, a keeper on said Wall with an open end slot receiving one of said journals at one end of the door when the door is in closed position, said keeper slot open end being directed substantially lengthwise of the wall, and a lever for manually swinging said one journal and its crank arm on the door when the journal is disengaged from said keeper, the journal and crank arm at the other end of the door being rotatable on the door and on its carriage independently of said lever.

7. In combination, a wall having a door opening, a track on the wall below the opening, carriages on the track spaced apart lengthwise of the door, horizontal crank arms each having a depending trunnion at one end supported on one of said carriages and having an upright shaft fixed on its other end journaled directly on the door and supporting the door, an individual lever for manual rotation of one of said shafts about its journals. on the door to move the door transversely of the wall,

the door being movable forwardly and rearwardly along the wall by travel of the carriages on the track, a keeper on the wall having a cam slot open at its outer end toward the extreme forward position of the door and including a cam surface inclined angularly to the length of the wall and facing toward the wall, and a door upright locking shaft journaled on the wall and being movable into engagement with said cam surface as the door is retracted rearwardly from its extreme forward position and thereby forced inwardly of said wall opening and positively held thereby against movement transversely of the wall.

8. A combination according to claim 7 which includes another keeper on the wall spaced lengthwise of the door from the mounting shaft keeper and having a diagonal slot opening outwardly of the wall and having cam surfaces facing transversely and lengthwise of the wall, and an upright locking shaft journaled on the wall and r0- tatable manually and having an offset lug engageable with said keeper cam surfaces to move the door lengthwise of the wall, to disengage the first-mentioned keeper and the mounting shaft.

9. A combination according to claim 7 in which the carriage structure includes spaced carriages near opposite ends of the door and the keeper and the crank arm journal engageable thereby are near the carriage at one end of the door when the door is abreast of the door opening, and a stop on the wall engages the other carriage as the door moves abreast of the door opening, there being a connection between the crank arms which positions said crank arm journal in front of the keeper opening when said stop engages the associated carriage and the journal of the other crank arm forms a pivot about which the rear end of the door may swing transversely of the wall to enter the first-mentioned journal into the keeper slot.

10. A combination according to claim 7 which includes an upright post on the wall, an upright edging on the door opposing said post and having a recess facing said post when the door is in closed position, and a packing in said post recess compressible between the post and door edge by the action of the keeper on the crank journal engaged thereby as the door moves to closed position.

11. A combination according to claim 10 which includes another keeper on the wall opening outwardly of the wall and having cam surfaces facing lengthwise of the wall, and an upright locking shaft journaled on the wall and rotatable manually and having an offset lug engageable with said other keeper cam surfaces to move the door lengthwise of the wall, and a lip on the door insertible into said recess and engaging an inwardly facing side thereof by movement of the door into closed position, said lip and the recess side faced thereby being inclined from the face of the post inwardly and thrusting the door edging and packing together.

12. In combination with a wall having a door opening and a door for closing the same, a track alongside the opening, antifriction elements mounted on the track, an elongated carriage carried on said elements and holding them in substantially fixed predetermined relation to each other lengthwise of the door, and a horizontal crank arm near each end of the door and supporting the same from said carriage and having an upright trunnion journaled on the door and a depending trunnion journaled on the carriage and providing for movement of the door horizontally relative to the carriage and track, there being a keeper on the wall having an inclined open end slot receiving an upright trunnion on one of the crank arms when the door is moved to closed position to shift the door inwardly,

13. The combination described in claim 12 in which a device for adjusting the height of each crank arm relative to the common carriage is associated with each depending trunnion.

(References on following page) References Cited in the file of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS Coder et a1 Jan. 7, 1896 Le Gros Aug, 4, 1896 5 Haseltine Feb. 18, 1936 Dwyer Mar. 14, 1939 Madland July 3, 1951 6% Haseltina Jan. 29, 1952 Beauchamp Aug. 5, 1952 Powers Apr. 17, 1956 Seddy May 29, 1956 Kloess Dec. 20, 1960 Gutridge July 18, 1961 Hendrickson et a1 Aug. 29, 1961 

12. IN COMBINATION WITH A WALL HAVING A DOOR OPENING AND A DOOR FOR CLOSING THE SAME, A TRACK ALONGSIDE THE OPENING, ANTIFRICTION ELEMENTS MOUNTED ON THE TRACK, AN ELONGATED CARRIAGE CARRIED ON SAID ELEMENTS AND HOLDING THEM IN SUBSTANTIALLY FIXED PREDETERMINED RELATION TO EACH OTHER LENGTHWISE OF THE DOOR, AND A HORIZTONTAL CRANK ARM SAID CARRIAGE AND HAVING AN UPRIGHT TRUNNION JOURNALED ON THE DOOR AND A DEPENDING TRUNNION JOURNALED ON THE CARRIAGE AND PROVIDING FOR MOVEMENT OF THE DOOR HORIZONTALLY RELATIVE TO THE CARRIAGE AND TRACK, THERE BEING A KEEPER ON THE WALL HAVING AN INCLINED OPEN END SLOT RECEIVING AN UPRIGHT TRUNNION ON ONE OF THE CRANK ARMS WHEN THE DOOR IS MOVED TO CLOSED POSITION TO SHIFT THE DOOR INWARDLY. 